MIAMI – Florida officials have been discussing ways to boost the state’s “enforcement removal operation" of undocumented migrants, but not without opposition.
According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Florida has had the most undocumented migrants in the country only after California and Texas.
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Gov. Ron DeSantis has been working with the 8-member State Immigration Enforcement Council and his fellow members of the State Board of Immigration Enforcement.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd serves as the advisory council’s chair and Larry Keefe as the board’s executive director. They have encouraged state collaboration with the feds.
“Florida is setting the example for states in combating illegal immigration,” DeSantis said in February about a partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
According to ICE, deputies in Jacksonville and Collier counties helped to enforce federal immigration law in March after arresting suspects from Honduras and Mexico.
Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union filed a class action lawsuit on Tuesday in Miami federal court to dispute the state-federal collaborations.
The ACLU attorneys representing the Florida Immigrant Coalition and the Farmworker Association of Florida accused local and state lawmakers of creating “immigration crimes” that are “completely outside the federal” system.
“Our plaintiffs include a mother applying for a U visa as a victim of crime, a mother of four caring for a child with disabilities, and farm workers who regularly travel between Florida and other states to harvest our food,” Attorney Amy Godshall said in a statement.
DeSantis approved Florida Senate Bill 4C in February authorizing state and local law enforcement to imprison undocumented migrants.
“We are asking the court to immediately stop Florida from enforcing this unconstitutional law to prevent further devastation to communities across the state,” Attorney Hannah Steinberg said in a statement.